Written Answers

Wednesday 23 August 2000

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Rhoda Grant (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a decision has been made on the future of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board.

Ross Finnie: Following the Executive’s review of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board initiated last year, and taking account of views expressed in the course of a public consultation exercise, we have concluded that the board should continue to operate within the existing statutory framework. The next review of the board will take place in 2004-05.

Community Care

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Scottish Commission for the Regulation of Care will be established; who the members of the commission will be, and when the commission will be expected to report.

Iain Gray: Subject to the necessary legislation obtaining parliamentary approval, we expect the commission to be established in October 2001. Appointments to the commission will be made by ministers in line with the public appointments procedures on the basis of open competition and will take account of the need for a balance of interests.

  The details of our proposals for the commission are contained in the Policy Position Paper The Way Forward for Care, which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe).

Freight

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the proposed extension of freight facilities grants to shipping will be a devolved matter and, if so, how the scheme will be administered.

Sarah Boyack: The proposed extension of the Freight Facilities Grant Scheme to coastal and short sea shipping for journeys which begin and end in Scotland is a fully devolved matter.

  The extension to the scheme to cover journeys which only begin or end in Scotland is a matter reserved for the Westminster Parliament. However, powers to make grant for such projects are planned to be executively devolved to the Scottish Ministers.

  The Scottish Executive will continue to administer the scheme for relevant projects.

Kingston Bridge

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8560 by Sarah Boyack on 19 July 2000, what assumptions on (a) traffic volume, (b) maintenance and (c) maintenance costs have been made in respect of the lifespan of the Kingston Bridge.

Sarah Boyack: Traffic volume is regulated by the capacity of the adjacent sections of the route rather than by the capacity of the bridge. Currently some 140,000 vehicles per day are crossing the bridge although in the recent past the traffic volume has exceeded 155,000 vehicles per day. On completion of the strengthening works the present traffic restrictions will no longer be required and the bridge could be restored to 10 lanes.

  Once the current strengthening contract and the other planned refurbishment works to the bridge, the approach viaducts and entry/exit ramps have been completed, the complex will revert to a normal inspection and maintenance footing.

  Provision has been made in current spending plans for the next two years of £4.669 million and £9.259 million respectively for replacing the bearings at the north and south ends of the main bridge, replacement of the Stobcross Off Ramp and cope and parapet replacement. Depending on the availability of funding beyond that timescale, the remaining works are expected to take a further three to five years to complete.

Kingston Bridge

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost of constructing the Kingston Bridge was; how much has been spent on maintenance on an annual basis since construction, and what the estimated maintenance costs of the bridge are for the next five years.

Sarah Boyack: The total cost of constructing the Kingston Bridge complex, including approach viaducts and entry/exit ramps, was just over £11 million (1970 prices). We do not have details of how much was spent on an annual basis by the previous roads authorities (Corporation of the City of Glasgow and Strathclyde Regional Council) between June 1970 when the bridge was opened and 1 April 1996 when the M8 through Glasgow was adopted as a trunk road. However, Strathclyde Regional Council spent approximately £11.6 million between the late 1980s when the complex’s structural problems first became apparent and that latter date. Actual and forecast expenditure for the complex including the bridge since it became part of the trunk road network is set out below:

  


1996-97 


£6,961,860 




1997-98 


£11,414,308 




1998-99 


£4,724,874 




1999-2000 


£7,902,006 




2000-01 


£11,069,873 




2001-02 


£4,669,370 




2002-03 


£9,259,770 




  Estimates of costs beyond this period have not yet been prepared because we are awaiting the outcome of further traffic studies and structural investigations that are required to develop a robust maintenance strategy for the Kingston Bridge complex.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the total amount spent by (a) local authorities as a whole and (b) each local authority was in each of the last five years, specified in both real and cash terms.

Mr Jack McConnell: Expenditure totals for local authorities are given in the following CIPFA publications, copies of which are available in the Parliament’s Reference Centre:

  Rating Review: Actuals of Income and Expenditure 1996-97 (Bib. no. 7544)

  Rating Review: Actuals of Income and Expenditure 1997-98 (Bib. no. 7545)

  Rating Review: Actuals of Income and Expenditure 1998-99 (Bib. no. 7548)

  Rating Review: Estimates of Income and Expenditure 1999-00 (Bib. no. 7547)

  We do not have actual expenditure figures for this year 2000-01 but details of local authorities’ planned expenditure is contained in the table.

  


Total Expenditure 




Local Authority 


Cash Terms 2000-01
£000 




Aberdeen, City 


271,279 




Aberdeenshire 


282,221 




Angus 


138,533 




Argyll and Bute 


146,623 




Clackmannanshire 


63,943 




Dumfries and Galloway 


208,712 




Dundee 


226,728 




East Ayrshire 


162,400 




East Dunbartonshire 


132,783 




East Lothian 


114,969 




East Renfrewshire 


107,825 




Edinburgh, City 


599,681 




Eileen Siar 


78,536 




Falkirk 


181,362 




Fife 


450,274 




Glasgow 


1,047,219 




Highland 


319,441 




Inverclyde 


126,623 




Midlothian 


108,467 




Moray 


112,404 




North Ayrshire 


185,323 




North Lanarkshire 


427,728 




Orkney 


44,825 




Perth and Kinross 


171,717 




Renfrewshire 


239,082 




Scottish Borders 


146,928 




Shetland 


62,879 




South Ayrshire 


147,989 




South Lanarkshire 


397,893 




Stirling 


119,152 




West Dunbartonshire 


147,941 




West Lothian 


202,989 




SCOTLAND 


7,174,468 




  Notes: Figures are Budget Estimates taken from local authorities’ Provisional Outturn Budget Estimate (POBE) returns. Figures are total expenditure including loan and leasing charges.

Police

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5734 by Mr Jim Wallace on 24 July 2000, what effect the security requirements of the number of VIP visits to Edinburgh since 1 July 1999 have had on policing in the Scottish Borders.

Mr Jim Wallace: The deployment of resources and the setting of operational priorities are matters for the Chief Constable.

Police

Mr Kenny MacAskill (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-5734, by Mr Jim Wallace on 24 July 2000, how many VIP and Royal visits each police force other than Lothian and Borders has dealt with since 1 July 1999 and what the anticipated number of such visits is for the forthcoming year, broken down by police authority area.

Mr Jim Wallace: This is a matter for individual police forces. The information requested is not held centrally, but all forces have to handle Royal/VIP visits as necessary.

Racism

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was made available in order to promote race equality in the last three years.

Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive provides £275,000 annually to promote race equality. The allocation has totalled £825,000 over the past three years. This amount is allocated to the Ethnic Minority Grant Scheme. The scheme provides grants to voluntary organisations in Scotland for projects designed to reduce discrimination and promote racial equality.

Racism

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much funding was provided to local authorities in order to promote race equality in the last three years.

Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive does not provide specific funding to local authorities for this purpose. In accordance with the principle of mainstreaming equality, local authorities are expected to fund the promotion of racial equality from their main budgets. Some Race Equality Councils are funded by their local authority.

Racism

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive which organisations it provides funding to in order to promote race equality.

Jackie Baillie: The Scottish Executive provides funding to the Unemployed Voluntary Action Fund for the purpose of administering the Ethnic Minority Grant Scheme on its behalf. The Ethnic Minority Grant Scheme is for projects designed to reduce racial disadvantage and promote racial equality. The Executive is currently conducting a strategic review of its funding for the black and ethnic minority voluntary sector.

Rural Affairs

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Rural Stewardship Scheme will include any provision for the maintenance and enhancement of peat bogs.

Ross Finnie: Yes. The requirements of Good Farming Practice, which will apply across the whole of any farm, croft or common grazing entered into the Rural Stewardship Scheme, will ensure that peat bogs are maintained in their current condition. In addition, payments are available under the Scheme for management of lowland raised bogs, for moorland which can include such sites and for implementing a special conservation management plan on small units such as crofts which could include peat bogs.

Rural Affairs

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures are being taken to protect raised peat bogs in Scotland.

Sarah Boyack: Raised bogs in Scotland are protected in a number of ways, through planning guidance, forestry guidance and through ownership or management by conservation bodies, but the most comprehensive protection is through statutory site designation. There are at present 69 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) notified in Scotland for their raised bog interest. The sites listed below are also candidate Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) under the EC Habitats Directive or proposed for SAC status and currently undergoing public consultation. The Habitats Directive identifies active raised bog as a priority habitat for conservation, and raised bog which is degraded but still capable of natural regeneration as also requiring site designation. The candidate and proposed SACs in Scotland for these interests are:

  Active raised bogs

  


Bankhead Moss, Beith 


*Flanders Moss 




*Black Loch Moss 


*Methven Moss 




*Blawhorn Moss 


*Moine Mhor 




*Braehead Moss 


*North Shotts Moss 




*Carsegowan Moss 


Red Moss 




*Coalburn Moss 


*Reidside Moss 




*Cockinhead Moss 


*Shelforkie 




*Cranley Moss 


*Solway Mosses 




Dogden (Greenlaw Moor) 


*Threepwood Moss 




Dun Moss and Forest of Alyth Mires 


*Turclossie Moss 




*Dykeneuk Moss 


*Waukenwae Moss 




  The sites marked * are also proposed under the "degraded raised bogs still capable of natural regeneration" category, in addition to Muir of Dinnet. The extent of Scottish candidate and proposed SAC for raised bog is 5,045 hectares.

  The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 implement the Habitats Directive in Scotland, England and Wales, and place a statutory duty on planning and other public authorities not to permit developments or operations that would be damaging to the features protected within a SAC unless there are imperative reasons of overriding public interest.

  Raised Bog is also a priority habitat under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and a costed Action Plan for the long-term safeguard and management of the habitat has been published. In addition to this national plan, raised bog has been identified as a priority by several local authorities in their Local Biodiversity Action Plans.

Wildlife

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment it has made of deer numbers in the area around Rockcliffe and Kippford in Kirkcudbrightshire.

Ross Finnie: This is a matter for The Deer Commission for Scotland, who have, along with Forest Enterprise and private forest interests started an ongoing programme of monitoring deer stocking densities in woodlands in South West Scotland. The area around Rockcliffe and Kippford will be assessed in this programme.